Pubdate: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 Source: Grand Rapids Press (MI) Copyright: 2007 Grand Rapids Press Contact: http://www.gr.mlive.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/171 Author: Paul R. Kopenkoskey Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) KENOWA HILLS: SURVEY, CAMPAIGN TARGET DRUG USE ALPINE TOWNSHIP -- Many high school students assume drug abuse is widespread among their peers. A $100,000 federal grant will be used to show Kenowa Hills High School students how that assumption is often misleading. Peer pressure has many teens presuming drug and alcohol use is common, said Nancy Harper, project director of Alcohol Education, Research and Training, or ALERT, a U.S. Health and Human Services anti-drug program. The one-year ALERT grant will fund a survey, a school-wide anti-drug campaign and counseling services. Kenowa Hills High School's 1,230 students will take a survey in March to gauge how many use alcohol and drugs, Principal Peg Mathis said. The poll will identify students only by aggregate groups, such as their age and grade level. Administrators plan to release the survey results in the fall -- when the anti-drug campaign is launched. "What makes this different with this program is the social norm campaign tries to affirm the students who are not using," Mathis said. "We think it's (the number of non-users) larger than what we think." Harper said drugs don't have the allure they once had with adolescents. "We find the vast majority of students, 80 to 90 percent, don't want to date someone who smokes, uses drugs or alcohol," she said. Counseling will be available as well, said Harper. "This is a five-year project," she said. "It takes about two years to make a difference in a high school. We expect, after two years, to see a 10 to 20 percent reduction in the use of alcohol and other drugs." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman